USAC

Pikes Peak: Jimmy Kite race notes

Kite Motorsports Jimmy Kite runs hot in Peak USAC show. FOUNTAIN, Col., Sunday, June 16, 2002 - Jimmy Kite leaves Pike Peak International Raceway (PPIR) today pleased with the performance of his ...

Published: Jun 18, 2002, 4:36 AM

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Kite Motorsports
Jimmy Kite runs hot in Peak USAC show.

FOUNTAIN, Col., Sunday, June 16, 2002 - Jimmy Kite leaves Pike Peak International Raceway (PPIR) today pleased with the performance of his #59 Westcon Racing/ Westcon Elevator/ Bloomer Beast if not satisfied with the final results. The 26-year-old started the United States Auto Club (USAC) Weld Racing Silver Crown Series' event 24th with a time of 26.314 seconds around the 1-mile PPIR paved oval and charged through the field getting as high as 13th before the engine, stressed by the high altitude, overheated. He would be credited with 26th in the 100-lap race.

"The car felt awesome," commented the Stockbridge, Ga. resident after sliding from the Beast chassis. "We made some changes this morning in the warm-up that really threw us off but Kevin and the guys switched us back to what we were running yesterday. That was really the right decision. I could put the car almost anywhere. We passed four cars one lap and passed about eleven total, I guess, before the engine started to overheat. These Bloomer Engines can really hold together! We ran an awful lot of laps with the temperature pegged at over 300-degrees. I eventually pulled the car in because I knew where this was going and I wanted to make sure that the Westcon Elevator crew could roll the car back into the trailer in one piece. I really had a blast out there. We were heading to the front today."

Kite's immediate plans for Silver Crown are uncertain at this time. However, he hopes to return with the Westcon crew for the remaining two USAC pavement races.

"I need to talk to the guys and see if we'll pull this down to Richmond (Virginia, site of the next Silver Crown event to be held on June 29)," enthused the 1997 Silver Crown Copper World Classic and Rookie of the Year winner. "I have had an awful lot of fun with these guys the last two races and I know we can get the results. I have run well at both Richmond (International Raceway) and IRP (Indianapolis Raceway Park, August 1) and I think we can do well as a team. I'm not sure the last time I passed four cars for position, in one lap, in the middle of a green flag run. It was a lot of fun out there today! We're starting to come on. Based on what the fans that came up to me afterwards said, they saw it too."

Kite began racing quarter-midgets at the age of eight and worked his way up through mini-sprints, USAC midgets, sprint cars and Silver Crown cars to the IRL. He is a five-time national champion in various open-wheel series with countless victories. He has a career total of 22 Indy Racing events and $1,232,000 in career IRL earnings.

-km-

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